Video: Russian missile hits a few meters from a French journalist

The Christmas and New Year holidays were not a reason for Russia’s ceasefire towards Ukraine. The media reporting the events of the war are constantly risking their lives. The last to have a near-death encounter was Paul Gasniera correspondent of French nationality of the program Quotidien in Ukraine.

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Grasnier was waiting to connect live from the city of Kramatorsk when he was hit by a Russian missile right behind him. The shocking event was recorded in front of thousands of viewers.

The war does not stop in Ukraine, quite the opposite. Attacks with Russian missiles and unmanned suicide drones have become increasingly constant towards Ukrainian regions in recent weeks. The power outages, the anti-missile alarms, the dozens of bombings have even been day-to-day events in the last weeks of the conflict in Europe.

One of the Russian missiles was recorded live by the camera that recorded Paul Grasnier, from the TCM television network, while waiting to go online to tell about the situation in the Kramatorsk region.

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Before he could say a word, the reporter was hit by the missile a few meters behind him.. The powerful explosion even lights up much of the night scene. The sound is picked up by the microphone, which cuts off after a few seconds because Grasnier releases it due to the impact of the explosive wave.

The journalist and the cameraman fall to the ground, while the transmission lasts a few moments before cutting off.

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The transmission quickly cuts to the shocked faces of the viewers who were on the French television set, and the silence of the presenter and his companions.

During the program was even the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire.

Given the crude images, there was fear for the life of the journalist and his companion. However, fear was quickly replaced by relief when Paul Gasnier was able to connect through a phone call which served to reassure viewers about his state of health.

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The images shared by social networks show the intense moment.

“We do not know if there are victims. What I can say is that we were the only ones outside in the parking lot. We don’t even know where exactly it fell,” says Grasnier during the call.

The journalist concludes by calming down the audience, reporting that they are safe but with trembling hands due to the explosion in which they were a few meters away. He also adds that, as the images show, the explosion had a great impact.

Santiago Andres Venera Salazar
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME